The eSource Readiness Assessment Tool (eSRA) contains questions based on regulations and regulatory agency guidelines for clinical research data sources and should be used to evaluate the suitability of an Investigator Site computerized system to provide data for clinical research.

Clinical research draws on a combination of data collected during a clinical trial and historical medical information relating to the research subject(s). Many of the data points needed for clinical research are originating in Electronic Health Record Systems, making them “eSource” for clinical research. Even if these data points are not used in their electronic state for clinical research, but are printed from the electronic health records and then re-entered into a Sponsor's system for a clinical trial, the source of the information (the healthcare system) must still be confirmed as compliant with standards set forth in clinical research regulations and applicable guidance documents.

An eClinical Forum team, comprised of CRAs and Data Managers from different clinical research sponsor organizations and CROs, has produced the "eSource-Readiness Assessment", otherwise known as "eSRA" for sites to perform a self-assessment of their computerized systems ability to be compliant with clinical research regulations.

The eSRA Template Version 2018.1 can be downloaded as part of the eSRA Handbook below.

Stay Current!! As new regulations are released or updated, the eClinical Forum will evaluate if the eSRA questions should be updated. To be notified of future releases of the eSRA Template, please send an email to eSRA@eClinicalForum.org. Your email address will not be used for purposes other than to inform you of updates to eSRA.

Please Help! Be a part of the solution -- An easy way for you to participate in the improvement of our e-clinical environment! We welcome your feedback on the assessment tool. We would also like to use your completed assessment, in an anonymized way, as part of a summary of the ability and needs of site's computerized systems. We are compiling statistics regarding site abilities, to provide information to software vendors and others, regarding areas for improvement. It is our goal that all healthcare systems become compliant with clinical research regulations and guidance. Please help us -- send your completed assessment to eSRA@eClinicalForum.org. You are welcome to strip off your organization identifying information before sending, however, this is not necessary as we promise to not use this portion of the assessment for our summary purposes. Thank you!!!

eSRA Resources

Please provide feedback for Version 2019

Sponsors & CROs -- Please take a few minutes to complete this brief survey regarding how your company reviews site healthcare systems. We would like the input of every company whether you are using eSRA or your own assessment or not assessing at all.

The link/survey will only be active until the end of May 2019, but we encourage you to complete the survey before Friday, February 22 2019, as we need the information to improve the eSRA Version 2019 which will be available the first week of March. Responses after Feb 22, 2019 will be considered for the 2020 version.

Sites -- If you would like to provide feedback for the eSRA V2019, please describe your feedback in an email to esra@eclinicalforum.org

Applied Clinical Trials has published an article on the eCF eSource-Readiness Assessment (eSRA). eSRA is a list of questions, based on regulation and guidance from FDA, EMA, PMDA, and ICH for Clinical Research sites to self-assess their readiness to provide data from their electronic health records systems. This data may be electronically supplied to sponsors, or manually entered into a sponsor system, however if it originates in a healthcare system, then sponsors are responsible for assessing that these systems are appropriate.

Investigator Site self-assessment of their healthcare systems against clinical research regulations and guidance

We are proud to announce an updated release of the eSRA (eSource Readiness Assessment) Handbook and Assessment Form. It is provided free on this website via the "eSRA" tab. This Version 2018.1 is an update, based on updates to FDA, EMA, PMDA and ICH regulatory documents. We encourage all Sponsors to use this assessment to assist in determining if data that originated in an investigator site system is suitable for inclusion in a clinical trial. We encourage all Investigator Sites to use this assessment tool and provide the resulting report to all Sponsors they are working with, thus avoiding the need to complete different assessments for each Sponsor. Full details of what this valuable tool provides can be found in the eSRA Handbook.

Version 2018.1

This is the ONE FILE that you need to perform an eSRA EMR/EHR Assessment.

- Sites should complete an eSource-Readiness Assessment (eSRA) to self-assess their healthcare computerized systems (EHR/EMR) for readiness to originate or handle electronic data that could become part of a clinical research study.

- Sponsors/CROs will find useful information in the Handbook in order to evaluate a completed eSRA from a site, to determine if data that originated in the site's healthcare computerized system complies with clinical research regulations

- Download the Handbook file and save to your computer. The instructions are in section 3 and the assessment is in section 5. Sites should complete the assessment and email it to their sponsors.

eSRA V2019 is coming (end of Feb 2019) -- we are looking for CR Sites or eCF Member Sponsors & CROs to join the eSRA team in reviewing changes for the 2019 version! Please contact eSRA@eclinicalforum.org if you are interested.

Partnering for Success

The ongoing Investigator Site Survey survey is open to all site staff involved in clinical trials. By participating in this survey, you will help us to better understand the experience and needs of site staff with clinical trial systems and processes. This is not eSRA -- it is a voluntary survey -- it is not an assessment. (If you are looking for eSRA, please download the Handbook below). GO TO THE SURVEY. Expand the article to read more...